Data & AI Engineer, Business Intelligence

About CBC/Radio-Canada

At CBC/Radio-Canada, we create content that informs, entertains and connects Canadians on multiple platforms. Our successes and accomplishments are driven by embodying and upholding values, which include creativity, integrity, inclusiveness and relevance.

Do you think you have the ability and drive to keep up with this exciting, ever-changing industry? Whether it be in front of the camera, on air, online or behind the scenes, you would be joining a team that thrives on making connections and telling stories that are important to Canadians.

Working at CBC

At the CBC, we all have a story to tell. What’s yours?

If you share our passion for Canadian storytelling and you wish to help us engage with individuals and communities across our various digital platforms, this is where you’ll want to be!

Every day, you will have an opportunity to shape the way in which Canadians see themselves reflected in our digital services. Your work will have a direct impact on how millions of Canadians from various communities connect with our products, with one another, and with the diverse voices that make our country so unique.

You will have the opportunity to play a part in enlightening and entertaining Canadians through our innovative work in building the mediums that deliver our content. We are an innovative hub, where the talented professionals we work with are respected and valued for their contributions. Our product teams are vibrant and our work culture strives to achieve the highest standards of diversity and inclusion. We believe that hiring people with different career paths and backgrounds is fundamental in our shared success and in building healthy and highly performant teams. When you join our mission, you are not only shaping the vision of the CBC, but the future of our country.

Why is this role important?

The Business Intelligence team’s data engineers are strategic partners and catalysts, providing data-as-a-service to support product, content, and operational decision-making across the organization. To support our expanding AI practice, we are seeking a Data & AI Engineer to scale the robust data foundations required for GenAI and machine learning initiatives.

In this role, you will be a key contributor to our AI roadmap, responsible for maintaining our Azure Databricks platform, architecting new ETL/ELT pipelines, and developing the data-centric solutions that power GenAI applications. You will work within a high-performing, cross-functional team to ensure our data lake is optimized to serve as the backbone for the next generation of AI-driven business solutions and automated organizational workflows.

We are open to qualified candidates located within Canada with work authorization, but the CBC’s BI team is based in Toronto.

Here’s why we should work together:

Our digital teams’ values - collaboration, learning, and continuous improvement - embody who we are as a people-focused, digital-forward employer. We follow lean startup principles and use an Agile approach. Our dedicated people managers work closely with every individual to ensure we are leveraging their strengths, championing their ideas and supporting their pursuit of new skills and their desired career progression.

Here at CBC Digital Strategy & Products, we want you to be happy and feel good at work. It is essential that work be a safe space where our employees are able to share their authentic selves with one another and to push each other to challenge conventions.

Perks you can look forward to:

• Hybrid work environment with flexible work schedules, allowing you to prioritize yourself, your family and your work;
• Enrollment in a generous defined benefits pension plan;
• Competitive total rewards package;
• 20% of time for innovation, learning and development; wherever your interests lie;
• Opportunities to work with cutting edge technology;
• Opportunities for continued learning and professional development;
• Opportunities to become a member of our Employee Resource Groups;
• Pair programming and mentorship opportunities, where you can learn from the best in the industry and help coach new talent;
• A creative and dynamic work environment, where your ideas and contributions can be heard, valued and respected;
• A supportive management team committed to upholding the highest standards of diversity and inclusivity;
• An environment which favours experimentation and an iterative approach in order to achieve the highest form of technical innovation.

How you will make an impact:

• The CBC’s digital footprint is one of the largest in Canada, which means you will have the opportunity to work with one of the largest datasets in Canada as well as one of the country’s most visible and highly respected companies.
• The BI team is a high-performing team that has transformed how the CBC thinks about its data, audience, and products. Our big data engineering practice is rapidly expanding our AI capacity, and you will be a key player in shaping this process.
• You will ingest and transform diverse data sources specifically for AI initiatives, ensuring data readiness for LLMs and agentic workflows.
• You will be part of an established big data engineering practice, working alongside counterparts at Radio-Canada to align data strategies. Your contributions are guaranteed to be felt by many, both in and out of the BI team.

What you could bring to our team:

The expertise:

• 5+ years of experience in Big Data Engineering, specifically handling high-volume clickstream or event data.
• Experience architecting robust data models optimized for downstream data analysis and AI/ML applications.
• Deep experience in enforcing data quality and governance.
• Experience building data pipelines that support LLM applications, such as RAG or vector-based search.
• Experience integrating LLMs into workflows to automate business processes.

The technical skills:

• Deep experience with the Azure ecosystem, specifically Azure Databricks, EventHub, ADLS Gen2, and Azure DevOps.
• Proficiency in Python (PySpark) and SQL for large-scale, distributed data processing.
• Experience with workflow automation tools, specifically Apache Airflow.
• Solid understanding of distributed computing and big data best practices using Spark.
• Experience handling structured, semi-structured, and unstructured data in both batch and streaming contexts.

The drive:

• You thrive in an autonomous and ambiguous environment that rejects “business as usual.”

The right attitude:

You enjoy working with people and sharing your knowledge with them in a collaborative way. You approach things with a beginner’s mind and are constantly curious and learning.

The communication skills:

• You are skilled at presenting ideas to non-technical stakeholders and management. You know how to listen and empathize with others. You are fluent in English and are an excellent verbal and written communicator.

The education:

• We are less interested in formal degrees; however, you may be a good fit if you have a certification in Big Data or AI Engineering within the Azure stack. While you might have an academic background in Computer Science, we value practical know-how over theoretical knowledge.

Qualified candidates will be subject to a practical assessment of the above requirements.

Assets:

• Working knowledge of French or willingness to learn/advance communication skills in French, as our team frequently collaborates with French-speaking counterparts at Radio-Canada in Montreal and Corporate in Ottawa.
• Experience with Agentic AI solution architecture.
• Experience with LLMOps.
• Data or AI engineering certification in any of the three major cloud platforms (preferably Azure).
• Experience with Continuous Integration / Continuous Deployment (CI/CD) pipelines.
• Experience with project management and support tools such as JIRA and Confluence.

To Apply:

At the CBC, we recognize that not everyone takes the same path when it comes to building their skills. We value diversity of thought and of experience, and we are excited to hear from you! Hands-on experience, intelligence, innovation, a passion for learning, and a team-focused approach can combine to form the best set of qualifications. If you feel you meet most of the qualifications and you are excited by the possibility of adding to the rich culture of the CBC, take a chance and express your interest by applying now!

If you’re interested in reading more about the various backgrounds of the talented people that make up our teams, our exciting new projects, and what we’re currently working on, check out our Digital Labs blog on Medium!

Candidates may be subject to skills and knowledge testing.

We thank all applicants for their interest, but only candidates selected for an interview will be contacted.

As part of our recruitment process, candidates who advance to the next step will be asked to complete a background check. This includes:

• A mandatory Criminal record check.
• Other background checks may be conducted based on the operational requirements of the position.

CBC/Radio-Canada is committed to being a leader in reflecting our country’s diversity. That’s because we can only create and tell the stories that connect Canadians, by having a workforce that mirrors the ever-changing makeup of our country. That’s why we, as an employer, value equal opportunity and nurture an inclusive workplace where our individual differences are not only recognized and valued, but also extend to and pervade all the services we provide as Canada’s public broadcaster. For more information, visit the Diversity and Inclusion section of our website. If you have accommodation needs at this stage of the recruitment process, please inform us as soon as possible by sending an e-mail to recruitment@cbc.ca.

You are invited to consult and familiarize yourself with our Code of Conduct, which can be found on our corporate website. All employees must adhere to the Code as a condition of employment. We also invite you to take a look at our policy on conflicts of interest. In the event that you become an employee, it will be important to inform us, as quickly as possible, of any situation that, because of your hiring, constitutes or could appear to constitute a conflict of interest.